China's air patrol over Diaoyutais can become routine: scholar

ROC Central News Agency

2012/12/26 23:01:42

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) A Chinese scholar said China's air patrol over the disputed Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea can become a routine practice, according to a report by Hong Kong's China News Agency on Wednesday.

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor at Beijing-based China Foreign Affairs University, was quoted as saying in the report that China's deployment of surveillance aircraft in the region can become 'routine and systematic.'

Wang Xinsheng, a professor at Peking University, said China's deployment of patrol boats, surveillance ships and aircraft is an 'unequivocal action of claiming sovereignty' and shows China's determination for its claim, according to the news report.

Wang said the air patrol can be a strategy but the government 'maintains a policy that seeks to solve the dispute peacefully.'

China dispatched government aircraft over the Diaoyutai Islands, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, four times in mid December and Japan also flew fighter jets to intercept the Chinese aircraft.

The uninhabited island chain, which lies about 100 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, is said to sit on top of valuable resources and is claimed by Taiwan, China and Japan.

(By Chiu Kuo-chiang and Jamie Wang)
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